Eat your way to the bottom of almost any bag of popcorn and there they are: the rock-hard, jaw-rattling unpopped kernels known as old maids. The nuisance kernels have kept many a dentist busy, but their days could be numbered: Scientists say they now know why some popcorn kernels resist popping into puffy white globes. It's long been known that popcorn kernels must have a precise moisture level in their starchy center - about 15 percent - to explode. But Purdue University researchers found the key to a kernel's explosive success lies in the composition of its hull. It turns out there is an optimal hull structure that allows kernels to explode, and leaky hulls prevent the moisture pressure buildup needed for kernels to pop. ``They're sort of like little pressure vessels that explode when the pressure reaches a certain point,'' said Bruce Hamaker, a Purdue professor of food chemistry. ``But if too much moisture escapes, it loses its ability to pop and just sits there.'' He and his associates compared the microwave popping performance of 14 Indiana-grown popcorn varieties and examined the crystalline structure of the translucent hulls of both the popped kernels and the duds. In the varieties popped, the percentage of unpopped kernels ranged from 4 percent in premium brands to 47 percent in the cheaper ones. The findings could be good news for people who savor the snack and those who grow the 17 billion quarts of popcorn sold each year in the United States.

I`m still waiting for the worlds greatest mystery to be solved; Why Ted Kennedy keeps getting re-elected Senator every six years for the past 40 plus years. I would say a similar mystery would be why Hitlery was elected, but then I realize she wasn`t. She used the alternative election process; "My husband is President and he can pardon whoever he wants."

This research seems pretty useless when you consider that I get essentially 100% poppage with nearly every batch,mm using the cheapest popcorn they sell.

The key factor is the pan/oil temperature.

The secret: put three kernels in the pot when starting to heat up the oil. When you hear them all pop, toss in the rest. The oil will be at the perfect temperature, and you won't get burnt kernels or unpopped ones.

When the oil is too cool, the more pop-prone kernels on the bell curve pop much earlier, at a lower temperature, and you are faced with letting them burn, or having lots of unpopped kernels.

When the oil is too hot, it's less of a problem, but the surfaces may be so hot that burning will occur.

It's all about letting the oil get hot enough.

The other secret: make fine salt that sticks by using a motorized coffee grinder (the handheld cylindrical kind that sell for about $10) to whizz table salt into a nice powder. Don't use a mill that has been used for coffee, or you will taste it. The salt mill can also be used to grind herbs and spices.

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